Monday, July 31, 2017

Time Is Running Out: My Genealogy Bucket List

Knowing that a "Bucket List" is a wish list of things to do before death:

What is on your Genealogy Bucket List? What research locations do you want to visit? Are there genea-people that you want to meet and share with? What do you want to accomplish with your genealogy research? List a minimum of three items - more if you want!

I sense time speeding up and running out. I could live 30 more years or a day. Energy, health, and strength are not what they were a dozen years ago, either. I need to hurry if I'm going to accomplish some of these items on my wish/bucket list, especially the overseas travel.

Contact the owner of Dixon Bartley's home to request a tour of the
inside of the house and out building. If he is agreeable, arrange a
time to travel to Bruin, Butler County, Pennsylvania, to visit. While
there, visit the courthouse and several cemeteries. Before going,
research census records and/or city directories to see if any of Fred
and Elvira (Bartley) Gerner's homes are still standing and if they are,
visit those, too.

Attend RootsTech. I'm sure I would be completely overwhelmed but wouldn't it be grand to be in the presence of so many knowledgeable family historians!

Go to England! I'd love to travel to Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, to visit the area where my Armitage ancestors lived and especially see and visit the Bradford Cathedral where Abel and Eliza (Hartley) Armitage were married. Then next travel to Northumberland and visit several of the towns and cities where my Doyle ancestors lived. It would be fun to learn if there are historical societies in those areas that recreate/reenact life in the early to mid-1800s.

A week at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City would be wonderful. I was there once for an hour or so when we drove our daughter from home to Rexburg, Idaho. I wasn't able to do any research and the library volunteers seemed so disappointed. I was disappointed, too.

Not having given much thought to a bucket list until Randy posted the questions, I'm sure this is a short list.

I hope you have a chance to visit the ancestral towns in England. I did that in a small way in May when I visited Southampton, England and Carrickfergus, No. Ireland, where my Tuttles had been. Plan a trip to Salt Lake for RootsTech and then come a couple of days early or stay a few days afterwards for time in the library. You won't regret it!

Thanks for the encouragement, Linda. If my husband can get healthy enough, perhaps a trip to England is in our future. I think I would have to go the Family History Library before RootsTech: I understand that people come home tired after the conference!

About Me

Sometimes I want to jump back in time, into the lives of my ancestors. Not to stay, of course -- too many modern conveniences I'd rather not do without -- but to meet them and watch their interactions with each other. Since I can't do that, I spend time learning about them and the times in which they lived. I look forward to meeting them. I've been seriously searching for my ancestors for nearly 8 years. I plan to continue indefinitely.
If you think we might have ancestors in common or you'd like to contact me for any other reason, please email me at myancestorsandme @ gmail.com.